2006 - Highlights

Around this time of year you tend to look back over the past 12 months and muse on the good and bad things that have passed.

So just for the record and to jog my memory when I pass by this thread again the 2 highlights of 2006 were

• Getting to the top of Tourmalet.
• MaxV*2 + MCR

TDF Journal Wednesday 31st May Rennes>L'Orient Fired up and off to see the sea

Distance 175
Time 7:07
Climb 1226
Weather Sun

This turned out to be a lovely day. The sun shined throughout and I rode my longest distance to date, 175km, including over 1200m of climbing up and down over the rolling Brittany countryside.

I had thought that, given the size of the city, I would find it hard to get out of Rennes. But in fact navigation proved to be the least of my early morning problems. Prior to my trip I had obviously thought about (and worried about but not too much) the various hazards that might befall me. Punctures yes, falls maybe, sunburn, beesting, saddle boils...for a pessimist the list could go on forever. However I must say that I did not think I would catch fire!

But today I managed just that. Following my early three-course-blow-out-lunch mistake I had taken to just having a light lunch. When possible I would buy this in advance, hanging a few croissants, cheese etc in a plastic bag from my rear saddle bag. This had worked perfectly well except today the bag, unbeknownst to me, slipped and started to rub against my rear tyre.

I put my rather hard progress through the streets of Rennes down to the after effects of rather too much food the night before. Also the rather strange odour that seemed to be everywhere I put down to big city smells, that I had become unused to with all the fresh air and countryside I had been experiencing. However when I stopped at some traffic lights I was a bit surprised to be surrounded by some tendrils of smoke. I looked behind and found that my lunch of pain au chocolats was smoldering away on back wheel. I quickly jumped off my bike and poured some water over my "lunch" to put it out. Sadly nothing could be salvaged and I would need ot search for some food later in the day. However on the plus side my pedaling became a lot easier..

Once out of Rennes I had a great day of cycling. The weather was perfect, the roads quiet and rolling. I made very good progress, at one stage even managing to overtake 2 cars and a tractor on a fast bit of downhill.

Everything was perfect up until about 10 km out of my destination for the day, L'Orient. I had covered over 160km in the day and was at the stage of wanting to get to my hotel and have a shower and a meal. Fortunately, I thought, that would be easy as I was on a road that led dead straight to the heart of the town (which was on the sea so downhill all the way.) However, for the second day running, the road abruptly turned into a fast three lane carriage-way, where cycles were not allowed but also had no-where to go.

Having wasted time and effort trying to find a way into Rennes I was in no mood to repeat today. So I decided to cycle down the hard shoulder and see what happened. I figured the second worst thing (the first worst involved a big truck) that could happen to me was that the police would pass by and take exception. But I reasoned, what realistically could they do? and if they did stop me at least I could get them to show me the way.

As it happened my journey was uneventul. Cars and trucks whizzed by ignoring the cyclist in their midst, as if this happened every day. And it probably did because this was after all, France. At one stage I did get a bit worried when I thought I heard a motor bike behind (and thought it was a gendarme) but I turned my head to see I was being followed by a young boy on a moped (also in theory not allowed on this road). Reassured I was not the only mad one on the road I pressed on. I eventually left the road and found the centre of L'Orient.

My day's travel troubles were not quite over. The whole of the centre of L'Orient was being dug up and the directions to my hotel were not at all clear. I had to stop and call Mrs M to see if she could help with directions. Eventually I got to my destination, which turned out to be very nice but did not serve evening meal.

This turned out to be a good thing. As mentioned I had been following the recommendations in the Guide de Routards and today it turned up trumps, leading my to probably the best restaurnant of my tour. At first it did not seem too promising. L'Orient is by the sea but I to leave this behind and walk through some of the less well heeled areas to find my dinner. I arrived early so had a picon at a very nice bar before going the the restaurant. Entering was like going into someones home. The decor was modern but friendly with large windows at the rear looking out onto a small garden. I was the first diner to arrive and was greeted by the husband of the couple who ran the restaurant. He was the sommelier, his wife the chef. When I expressed an interest in some beer as an aperitif he recommended "Lancelot" from a small local brewery. This turned up and was marvellous. Then he explained the menu which was different from most. There were six dishes and you had the choice to have as many of them or as little as your appetite could manage (if you did not fancy one or two then you could ask for some alternatives.) All the dishes looked tempting and, having cycled over 100 miles in the day, I had an appetite for all of them so I sat back and tucked in.

http://www.brasserie-lancelot.com/


The food was superb. Freshly cooked, portions just sufficient to leave me full but not to bursting. I let the sommelier choose the wine and he surprised me by giving me some Alsatian Tokay that I really liked (despite living in Strasbourg, I am not the greatest fan of Alsace wine). After several happy hours I left the restaurant in a very good mood, the walk back to my hotel helping my digestion and also giving me time to wonder how it was that I had found in the backstreets of a not too fashionable French coastal town a restaurant better than any I had ever been to in the UK.

I've opened 4 casks so you can just help yourselves and drink all you want

Went on brewery tour of Lodden Brewery last night, courtesy of work. This is the third brewery I have toured but the first time in England (others being one in Germany and Heineken in France).

Must say this was by a country mile the best. It really could not have had a better start, as the owner himself was the guide and he started of with the immortal words "I've opened 4 casks so you can help yourselves and drink all you want...".

So we did, trying 5 different varieties of beer and eating some excellent fish and chips. We also got a very good walkthrough of the brewing process with a lot of useful info (like the key part a pencil plays, the importance of temperature control to 0.1C ). It was good to see real hops being used as well. At Heineken they just use hop extract, at Lodden you could see the hops on the bottom of the brewing chambers. Wierdest bit of info was that brewers jealously guard their yeast, handing down from father to son over the generations. Apparently if the yeast was to change then the beer would be completely different so Lodden even go to the extent of keeping some of their yeast stored in liquid nitrogen to be used in case of disaster.

All in all a cracking night, though the next morning was a wee bit difficult....

Lodden info

TDF Journal Tuesday 30th May Domfront>Rennes Tyred Out

Distance 122
Time 5:02
Climb 950
Weather Sun



I did not know it at the time but today marked the first, painful, appearence of two things that that would dog me off and on for the rest of my trip: punctures and "rue barees". The former is a bit ironic as the one thing I was a bit paranoid about at the beginning of my tour preparation was punctures, to the extent that when I started riding again I fitted "Slime" innertubes (which are meant to be self healing). Even despite these my first trips out on my mountain bike resulted in me pushing the bike home after numerous punctures so I ended up taking multiple inner tubes instead.

Anyway, now the weather was getting better and the roads smoother I decided to try blowing my tyres up a bit, so inflated them to 120psi. Theory of this is that the higher the pressure the quicker you go. Maybe but very shortly after doing this I found my tyres were flat. I used both my spares to sort out the problem and set off. Shortly after, bowling downhill through a town I noticed a shop specialising in tractors and cycles. I stopped and bought some replacement tubes.

This turned out to be a very lucky break as after a while I came across a sign saying "rue baree - deviation". Being a law abiding Brit I followed the deviation but regretted it because
a: it was hilly
b: it took me onto a newly tarmaced road with sharp gravel specifically designed to puncture bike tyres. So I ended up repairing the third puncture of the day (under the watchful gaze of an old farmer and his dog).

These unexpected delays put rather a dent in my schedule for the day. I had planned to stay overnight in Rennes, the largest city on my route. But my hoped for early arrival was getting later and later. Things deteriorated when I approached the city itself. I found that that my road in suddenly became a motorway and very dangerous for bikes. Worse there seemed to be no easy detours. I ended up following some farm tracks, very frustratingly being able to see the city in the distance but with no road leading to it.

My compass came in really useful at this point as I used it to take any road that headed west. Eventually I came to a more built up area and was able to follow some cycle paths that got me to Rennes city centre.

By now it was somewhat later than I had planned to arrive and I had no hotel. So I headed to the tourist office where I learned that Rennes was full. Fortunately there was a room at a hotel a short distance from the centre, though it was expensive. Beggers can't be choosers (provided they have a credit card) so I took the room and cycled off to find it. This involved going over lots of cobbled streets so I was thoroughly shaken up by the time I arrived.


Lecoq-Gadby



The hotel (Lecoq Gadby) proved to be small and chic (and dear). The rooms did not have numbers but names. I was in the smallest of them (Napoleon IIII, not sure if the emperor himself was as small as his more famous predecessor). I showered changed and headed off to explore Rennes, armed with a suggest pedestrian route to follow.

Rennes Tourist Info





Had a very pleasant time. Rennes is a very easy city to explore on foot,with a young vibrant feel due to its very large university. It reminded me a bit of Strasbourg (though not quite as nice..) My excursion was made even more pleasant as the evening was warm and sunny. I planned to eat later but the hunger pangs of my somewhat longer than expected day were starting to bite so I had emergency fillup at a fast food pasta bar (not something I had seen anywhere else). I also had time for a beer (large) and a quick call home at one of the many tables outside (as below).



I was away for a couple of hours and the walking had rekindled my appetite. I had a meal the hotel in a very swanky restaurant with some top notch grub/beverages. The Vire-Clesse wine was excellent but the star of the meal was some Epoisse cheese, very smelly, very nice. (Apparently it was called the "King of all cheeses" by Jean Brillat-Savarin the lawyer, politician and according to Wilkipedia possibly the most famous French gastronome of all, whose most famous quote was "Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are". Praise indeed!)

Viree-Clesse



Epoisee info

More Epoisee info

Munich:Aftermath

Well, slightly, belatedly, I can report we all returned safely from the beer capital of the world.

Some photos of our weekend

The night before, meal at a typical beerkeller:


On the day Russell and I prepare with a breakfast of quadruple expressos


Waiting to get into the tent. Phil convinced me to try out some of his sumo squats, useful preparation in case of later need to go to the lav. I end up looking like a constipated mime artist:


The definitive Munich picture, Stewart with some of his steins:


After the tent. We head for the Chinese garden and enjoy the sun. Note the pace it taking its toll, some glasses look suspiciously un-beer-like-coke-like:


Bathing in the park. What happens when beer and sun combine (taken before the police arrived...)




Evening round another table of beer and bavarian food. (Later discovered to be the same place as Hitler staged his putsch)


Our French member in typical pose:

Boire Chanter Vomir Mourir

Boire Chanter Vomir Mourir: Once again, despite previous vows of "never again" I am heading to Munich and the Oktoberfest for the weekend. This is the fifth or sixth time I have been (combination of old age and too much beer making me forgetful) and each time proves the old adage of being unable to organise a p***up in a brewery applies to our motley crew.

True to form the number of people saying they will definitely go and those actually making it to the Augustiner tent are two completely different things. So far this year one has dropped out due to forgetting he was due to go to a wedding that was planned 18 months in advance (fortunately not his own!) and another has been hit by the Schwengen treaty. (He is South African and discovered at the last minute he needs a visa to be allowed across the channel. Strangely the quickest way to get this was to get this is via the Finnish embassy and it will be ready in central London at 15.00 today. Unfortunately his plane takes off at 16.00 from Stanstead. All is not yet lost, there is an early flight tomorrow).

Still on the plus side we have one more Russell than was expected. And compared to previous years we are not doing too badly. Hopefully this trend will continue and we will

• Not arrive late at the tent and actually find somewhere to sit without having to resort to bribery and corruption
• Stay upright until after noon
• All go out together Saturday night
• All return safely Sunday

Should the above all happen this will mark a first and I will be able to retire from Beerfest duty and hang up my stein with pride. Otherwise it may be same time, same place next year....

Knackered Knees

My new found fitness and weight (lack of) led me to think I may be up for playing footy again. So I put myself down for the office 5-a-side game Wednesday.

Sadly my left knee could not take the strain. Felt very wobbly during the game and the following day swelled up and got very painful.

So very sadly will have to hang up the trainers and stick to what I do best. Worryingly the state of my knees may rule me out of my planned return to MTB events this coming weekend...

Southern Sportive Result

Just finished the Southern Sportive. Beautiful weather and everything went v. well apart from minor mishap in the bottom department prior to start....

Did well finishing in 5:19 AVS 28.8 kmh (which is almost identical to Highclere). Happy with this as though the course was easier it was also pretty much run as an individual time trial. I only cycled for a total of around 20km or so with other riders, rest of time it was solo, Highclere by contrast spent majority of time in fast company. Clearly not all sportives are the same.

Another Sunday another sportive

This coming Sunday plan to do the Southern Sportive
Web

Famous last words but looks a little less difficult than Highclere, it is certainly shorter. But means an earlier rise as starts in Petersfield just to the south of me.

Will be aiming for a gold standard at 5.50, weather forecast good so fingers crossed it stays that way...

TDF Journal Monday 29th May Cormeille>Domfront I'm a cider drinker/Heading South

Distance 155k
Time 6:54
Climb 1525
Weather Sunny and a bit of wind

Had a good nights sleep but on waking found that rather strangely no water was coming out of any taps or the shower. Thought it may be a problem with my room so dressed and went downstairs where I found the manager (and chef) talking animately on the phone. I was soon joined by some other guests with same lack of water problem. When he put the phone down the manager explained that he had just been talking to the mayor. Apparently a pump had broken somewhere and this had stopped water flowing to a section of the town. It was being fixed and should be back on tap within an hour or so.

I must say this quite impressed me. Firstly that the hotel manager could know who to contact, secondly that they could pick up the phone and speak to them and, even more impressively, that they would know about the problem and say when it was going to be fixed. This seemed like quite a good system and might be worth considering in the UK.

The manager suggested we have breakfast, by the end of which normal service should be resumed on the water front. So we did and it was. Very impressive.
Suitably showered I checked out. The manager/chef must have appreciated my appreciation of French fromage as he said he was not charging me for the extra cheese course I ate last night. Very nice of him. I left in a good mood, stopping only to pop into a local shop for my habitual supplies of croissants and some food for the journey.

The ride was uneventful. The weather continued to show signs of improvement, with sunny spells more frequent than cloudy ones. There were one or two heavy showers about but the countryside was so flat that I could see them well in advance and plot my course to avoid them.
I reached Caen, but decided against going into the town centre, instead taking a detour round it. This marked the next major turn point of my trip as I would now start seriously heading due south, which apart from promising warmer climes, also meant that the wretched head wind would increasingly be a thing of the past.

My route took me through Pont D'Ouilly in the area of, appropriately for me, Suisse Normande.
Pont DOuilly info
More Pont Info
As the name suggests this town had a bridge (though over the river Orne not the Ouilly) and as I passed over it the view of the river below was so idyllic that the tourist overtook the cyclist and I had to stop. I negotiated, with some difficulty, the steps down to the river bank and spent happy half hour there, eating my food, taking in the view and generally feeling very good about the world.



I restarted and took a scenic tour through Normandy. As I passed along a country land a sign caught my eye. It advertised farm cider for sale. My bidons were close to empty and it seemed somehow appropriate to top them up with some local brew. So I went down the farm track and found a small cidery. The shop/stockroom was open but no-one appeared to be about. I stomped about and made some noise, then shouted a bit. No-one appeared. There were several thousand bottles (of cider and calvodos) on view and a price card so I thought maybe I was meant just to help myself and pay for what I took. I was just about to do this when the cider maker appeared. He was very friendly but somewhat bemused that a cyclist would want to buy some bottles. However eventually he understood and laughed as I topped up my bidons. He advised me against the doing the same when I got to Bordeaux as the police did not take too kindly to drunk cyclists.

Refuelled I set off again. One thing I had not thought of when filling my bidons was that cider is bubbly. After a few kilometres or less than smooth farm lanes therefore I was surprised to feel a sudden explosion of warm liquid between my legs. My first worry was that all this cycling had had unfortunate effects on my bladder but I then realised that the cider in one of my bidons had been shaken up so much it had reached critical pressure and blown the top off. Luckily there was a simple and enjoyable remedy to this. I drank enought cider from each bidon to leave room for expansion and carried on, a bit the merrier despite/because of having a sticky patch in my cycle shorts.

Eventually I reached Domfront, my resting place for the night. At first sight the Logis did not look particularly welcoming, being on the main road and not a very special building.

Domfront Logis

But in fact it turned out to be one of my more pleasurable hotel stays. Firstly it was run by a husband and wife couple who seemed to argue with each other constantly, but you got the sense that they had probably done so happily for all their married life and would probably continue to do so for the rest of their days. The wife was also an ardent anti-smoker. Strangely, for France, their hotel was completely "non-fumeur" with signs to this effect all over the place. On first glance the restaurant and menu did not seem very special either but in fact the food, cooked by the husband, was excellent. Classic, simple cooking with a strong local theme and ingredients. I am afraid I was not brave enough to try the tripe but had a lamb shank in beans that was delicious and enhanced by being served on an earthenware plate with a lid with a steamhole, that I had never seen anywhere before. To celebrate this lucky find I had a few more bottles of cidre....

Domfront Site

One thing that surprised me at the days end was how many metres I had climbed during the day. France was proving to be hillier than I had expected.

Highclere 115 last time I mention it

Few final notes on the Highclere 115. Couple of other guys I know also did the ride, both in fact had it a lot harder than I as they ended up doing almost all of it solo. Ian, to whom many thanks for putting me onto the event in the first place, had the worst luck of all as had to battle with punctures and downpours, his musings on the ride can be found via his "Pedalling My Thoughts" blog (see sidebar link). Olly from the bike shop I met last night and he made it round in just under 9 hours.

Results of the ride are now up.

Highclere 115 Results

I ended up 14th out of 284 which leaves me gobsmacked. Reflecting on this it probably makes it the second or third most distinquished sporting performance of my life. (Undoubted first being scoring my only 2 goals in competitive football in the same match, both being crackers from outside the box, which earned our team its only point of the season. Second/third is getting ready for a swimming race and realising the guy in the next lane was Olympic bronze and multi other competition medal winning Brian Brinkley (He beat me)). Does leave me a slight problem of where do I go from here, which I will go some way to finding out when I do another sportive on 10th September and revisit the hell of the SPAM the week after.

Massage or a Breakfast Butty? The agonies of choice.

or








Post script to Highclere. At the end of the event I was presented with a very difficult choice. The organisers had arranged for some volunteer ladies skilled in the art of massage to minister to the limbs of the riders in various stages of distress. Cost for this relief (to go to Fireservice Benevolence charity) was a mere fiver. I was sorely tempted to take advantage of this service and even joined the queue.

However at that point the sweet smells of a fry-up wafted their way across the field. As if drawn by a magnet I quit my waiting and followed my nose to the van where the smell was coming from. There I learned that for £4.30 I could have a breakfast bap (bacon, fried egg and sausage) plus a cup of tea.

Due to fears of downpours I had only brought one fiver with me, not wishing to risk more getting dampened beyond use. What to do? I could, for the first time in my life and with a completely clear conscience (it was for charity after all), enjoy a massage. However my stomach was growling at me, "need food, need grease". Also at the back of my mind was a Mrs Miff with a rolling pin, not quite understanding how getting my legs fondled by beautiful young ladies was in the interests of firemens charity (unless of course it was the firemen themselves at the receiving end).

So in the end I opted for the breakfast in a bap. I must say it tasted very nice.

Next time though think I will risk taking a tenner with me.....

Highclere Happiness - Blowing my own trumpet

Somewhat tired. Very happy. Just come back from completing the South Downs challenge a.k.a. the Highclere 115.

The Map
The Route Profile


Had been v. nervous about this because never done a "cyclosportive" event before but in fact it went fine after the first mile. First mile was bit of a disaster as somehow I ended up at the front of my group, came to the first bend, saw the marshal waving, lost concentration and before I knew it my head was hitting the tarmac. Luckily my sunglasses absorbed the impact though I left one bit of them behind as a remounted, somewhat in shock and had a hard ride to rejoin the group.

After that though all was pretty good. My start group happened to have some good riders in it and we stormed along overtaking loads of people. (Glad to report I did my bit at the front.) Unfortunately one guy punctured and his team-mates stopped to help him so our group cut down to two and then just me.

Nonetheless made it to the first check point in just over 2 hours, averaging almost 20mph, which put me well on course for my target time of 6hr55mins. Second leg is a bugger, all up and down and, today against the wind. I set of alone and did not really get into any group throughout this stage until caught up by some fast bods 10km from the next checkpoint. They stopped to refuel, I pushed on and made good time hooking up with a couple of people along the way. At the 140km stage though I was getting tired and very happy to be overtaken by the fast bods train which I latched onto. The drag up to the final hills was into the wind again but even so we averaged 30kph.

Just before the final hard climbs I dropped off the group. It was mission accomplished in terms of getting my target time as I had only 20km to go and an hour and 20 mins to do it in. The fast bods were obviously fitter than me and I was worried if I tried to keep up with them I might overdo it and crack. So I took things as easy as is possible over the climbs and got to back to Highclere safe and sound.

My end time was 6 hours 22 mins, comfortably inside gold standard for aging hippies and even a gold for young whippersnappers and 15th overall (at the moment). I looked to be the 3rd or 4th 40-49er. (The first 50-59er was 17mins behind so I have a future challenge).

Very very happy with this....

TDF Journal Sunday 28th May Beauvais>Cormeilles Sun's Out!

Distance 145k
Time 6:37
Climb 853
Weather Sun(:)) & wind




Woke up and headed down for petit dejeuner. The illusion that I was in a home rather than hotel continued as I found I was the only guest and I effectively had breakfast with the family, including their toddler son who played cars under my table.

Following the lull yesterday, Sunday would be no day of rest with a 150K or so planned, including crossing the Seine. I was not sure which route the Tour was going to be taking out of Beauvais. This was because the detailed route the tour takes each year is a closely guarded secret. The main route and "Villes d'etape" are published with a fanfare around October time, but exactly how the riders will get from start to finish (Beauvais to Caen in this case) is not revealed until the June edition of the Velo magazine hits the newstands. When I left the UK I had expected to be able to pick up a copy on my arrival in France, since in the UK magazines usually appear a full month ahead of their cover date. However the French are obviously more literally minded than us Brits and so the Velo was due to appear on 1st June and not one day before.

So I had to guess the route, which meant when I missed my first turning just a couple of km out of Beauvais I did not get too stressed and just took the next turning to get me back on track. Happily on the weather side things were looking up. For the first time since day 1 I was able to start pedalling without first donning my Pack a Mac. The sun was visible and the wind, though still blowing, was doing so with less gusto on previous days.

The route was pretty flat and enjoyable. It being a Sunday other cyclists were also out and about. I played catch up and pass with an older cyclist, who, when I stopped 20 or so minutes later for a quick natural break stopped to ask me where I was heading and gave me some route advice.

I crossed the Seine just south of Rouen, the approach being along its banks via the D92 which took me through some very nice villages. One of the good things about France is that their approach to building houses means they are all different, and this road was a good example of this with lots of variations on the comfortable family house, one even resembling a mini-castle.

Once over the Seine the road passed quickly by and I decided to stay at Cormeille in the Auberge de President, named after President Reny Coty (1954-59) ate there (and if good enough for the president of France should be good enough for me.)


Auberge de President

I telephoned ahead to book a room and when I arrived I was very happy with my choice. Cormeilles is a beautiful Normandy village full of old timbered houses of many different colours, the hotel, in pale blue, being one of the best examples. A marriage was just coming to an end when I turned up but nonetheless the manageress found time to show me to my room and a place to stow my bike. The room was newly decorated but in a rustic style and very welcoming. I also had a large bath and plenty of bubble bath so I indulged in a wallow. It was not late so I set off for a wander round the town, taking a beer at a local bar whilst trying not to look English by reading L'Equipe and the local papers.

(Cormeilles websites)
http://www.office-tourisme-cormeilles.com/index.php
http://ecoles.ac-rouen.fr/freneuse27/morainville/cormeille.html



In fact I need not have worried too much about appearing a tourist. In the first place the town was obviously used to having the English come over and settle, the estate agents mostly boasted of "English spoken", looking at the prices of house I could see the attraction. For the price of a 3 bed semi in Newbury you could buy a big detached house with huge grounds near Cormeille. What's more, as I read the local paper, the folk in Normandy were getting worried about how the number of English visitors was dropping off, due to the weather and cheap flights luring us to the warmer climes further south.

I strolled back to the hotel, taking note of a shop to get some croissants in the morning. At the hotel I had a truly superb meal, cooked in the local style so calvodos, apples or cider figured in most of the dishes. Being greedy I asked for both the cheese and dessert courses and polished off a couple of bottles of cider (when in Normandy...).

All in all a very good day, the best of my trip so far. The only very minor problem was my arms were a bit sunburnt, a quite tolerable alternative to the frostbite they had suffered only a couple of days earlier.

TDF Journal Saturday 27th May Montdidier >Beauvais - Taking it easy

Distance 49k
Time 2:55
Climb 261
Weather Grey and windy

This was a different day. After a week of struggling against the elements I had finally come to my first "rest" day. I had planned only short rides for these days, just enough to stop me stiffening up and hopefully let my body recover a bit.

So I had a lie in and a leisurely breakfast. When I headed out of the hotel the skies were grey and the wind was blowing. However it did not look as if rain was threatening. My destination for the night was Beauvais, start town for the TDF stage 5. This was only 50km or so to cover in the day, which was by a comfortable margin the shortest distance I had cycled. As the wind was still quite fresh I decided to head cross country to take advantage of the cover that the little lanes provided. This was a good plan and the ride was very enjoyable, if not very challenging compared to previous days.

Beauvais (French)

Beauvais (English)


I had booked a hotel in advance, the "Residence" in Beauvais. This was a bit of a strange place as it was located (appropriately given its name) in a very quiet residential neighbourhood about 10 minutes walk from the town centre. You needed to look twice at it to realise it was a hotel rather than another house and this illusion was continued when I was greeted at the door by a toddler, son of the owners.

While stowing my bike away in the garage I found my first equipment failure of the trip. One of my padlocks had seized up, it was hanging under my saddle and had caught the brunt of all the crud thrown up by the rear wheel as I pedalled through the rain. A fair amount of brute force let me get it off but it was broken beyond repair so I consigned it to the bin. I did not mind too much, in practice I had not yet come across any occasion when I thought my bike was in any danger of being stolen, so I was frankly glad to drop some unwanted weight.

I showered, changed and set of on my first bit of real tourism of my tour. Beauvais wasn't a bad town for this, being not too big, with a picturesque cathedral (pics below) and pleasant central square. I stopped by one of the cafes and was very happy to be able to sit outside as the grey clouds parted and I felt the first real strong sunshine since my first day.






I passed my time happily relaxing and reading my "History of the World". As the afternoon turned to evening however I was beginning to feel quite peckish and went in search of a restaurant. I was a little early but had the good luck to stumble upon a fantastic bar "Le Mine". This boasted of having a large range of bottled and draft beers. I ordered a half of Goudale (which sort of felt English "Good Ale") and was told that it was happy hour so I could have a full pint if I wished (yes pint. Despite being in France, originator and home of the metric system some traditions live on. So you can order a pint of beer (or a metre just to make things really confusing!)). I considered this offer long and hard, on the one hand free beer was available. On the other Good Ale is 7.2degrees so a pint could have a pretty heavy effect on an empty stomach. So reluctantly, and very possibly for the first time in my life, I turned down the offer of a free beer.


La Mine Website


This said I made up for it by having a pint of the brun by which time the restaurants were starting to open. I made for an Italian as I wanted to get some stodge inside me. It did not seem particularly special but I was lucky to get there early as within 20 minutes it was full. I had a pasta followed by pizza (the joys of cycling!) along with a carafe of red.

Rather fuller and a bit tipsy I headed back to the hotel.

PS Photo of the day the tour left town (more on the website)

Come blow you winds....

Post script to my ride on Saturday.

I thought I had left the winds behind my when I finished my ride, however I was slightly wrong. As mentioned one purpose of the trip had been to check out the cereal bars I planned to take along. These seemed to work fine regarding keeping me going on the road but then seemed to work overtime and kept me going through the night and the following day! Poor old Mrs Miff had to issue a gale warning as the bed clothes were almost blown off.

Hurricane has since subsided but looking at cycle forum see I am not alone in suffering these side effects

http://www.cyclingplus.co.uk/forum/topic

Highclere Recce 2 - Windy but fast enough (just)

The route of the Highclere run I will be doing next week has been published, along with the "gold" standard for vets of my age of 6 hours 55 minutes (equivalent to 27kph) As mentioned in previous post this looks doable but only just.

So yesterday I tried doing the full route as a test both of my speed and provisioning. I bought a "Camelback" which I filled with water and took 2 bidons with LucoSport. I also packed 12 or so grain bars (Jordans etc.) after reading that the first Brit to finish the Etape swears by them for long rides.

All went pretty well. I punctured but discounting that managed a pretty good average speed of 31 up to the first checkpoint at Petersfield. I find the next stretch across to Mottisfont the hardest, especially the first half as it is all up and down and this saw my average go down to 29. Nonetheless I was able to hold up and push over the final climbs just within the time limit.

I was pretty pleased with this as there was quite a wind blowing which may have given me some help on the first bit but was straight into my face coming home. On the day itself I guess we will form into groups so speeds should go up. Hope so in any case...

TDF Journal Friday 26th May Nouvion to Montdidier Blown Away

Distance 112k
Time 6:00
Climb 418
Weather Gale force winds

Yet again I got up, looked out of the window and was greeting by grey drizzle. I ate breakfast and headed out of Nouvion, with the wind blowing hard into my face.

After a couple of hours, when the only event of any interest was passing a large Nestle factory in the middle of nowhere, the rain finally relented. I didn't know it at the time but this was the end of the regular drenchings I was going to get.

Given the headwinds I made reasonable time to St Quentin, the finish of the tour's stage 4. The start at Huy yesterday seemed like an age ago.



St Quentin - the smiling town

St Quentin is a town that has personal memories for me, since it is the first French town I can remember staying in. As a child every other year we would visit Switzerland, home to my dads family. Back then these trips were major events, since it was rare for anyone to leave the sanctuary of the British Isle. The road network was nowhere near as developed as today so the journey to/from Switzerland would take a good two days. My first recollection of actually being in France was when we had a stopover at St Quentin, where I remember my dad ordering "escargots" and being amazed when snails turned up at our table and even more amazed when my dad ate them.

Now, returning some 40+ years later, there was not much sign that St Quentin was celebrating the arrival of the tour but looking at the web site later it seems they certainly made up for this when the big day arrived, living up to their claim of being the "town that smiles"



I stopped at a bar/resaurant for a typical French workers lunch. For 12 euros I got a three course meal, with steak as main course, along with some wine and coffee. Very nice, very cheap.

I had another gap d'etape to cover, this one being 100km.My destination was Montdidier and I had planned what seemed to be a pretty straightforward route to get to it, via some friendly looking yellow D roads.

I set off, happy to find that getting through St Quentin was pretty easy given its size. Once I left the shelter of the town, however, I found that the D roads were a bit less friendly than I thought, being wide, straight, rolling and full of traffic. To add to my woes the headwind had got worse and was blowing straight down the road into my face. Making progress was very difficult. For the first time in my cycling life I was actually glad when I was overtaken by an HGV, since in the turbulence of its wake the wind lessened a bit and I could make headway. These respites though were brief and it was proving heavy going. I got a third of my way towards Montdidier and decided a plan B was called for. I headed off the D road across country zig-zagging along quiet country lanes, always heading in the general direction of Montdidier. This route was longer than the original but a lot easier. I passed through any number of tiny villages, wondering how on earth they all kept going but glad they did.

Finally, after covering nearly twice as much distance as originally planned I reached Montdidier. I had booked a hotel in advance but did not know where exactly it was. This proved to be a potential problem as the main street of the town was near vertical. I sped down it desparately looking from side to side, ready to effect an emergency stop. Luckily when I got to the bottom my hotel loomed ahead. Just a luckily the signpost for my direction out of town the next morning was clearly visible and pointing in the opposite direction from the hill I had just come down and therefore would not have to go up again tomorrow.

Montdidier+baby?
I was knackered. I was nearly at the end of my first week of my tour and it had proved hard work with most every day being a battle against wind, rain or, mostly, both. Fortunately my intention had always been to have one day of rest each week and tomorrow, Saturday, was to be the first of these. So I cleaned up and had my second steak of the day in the restaurant. The manager of the hotel stopped by the table for a quick chat, strangely the thing he seemed most keen to impress on me was the fact that my room had electric window shutters, which true enough it had, so I used them and had a good and well earned nights sleep.

Going for Gold?

I have received the latest news about the South Downs challenge that is now looming on the horizon, only a couple of weekends away. Aka the "Highclere Hundred" it has now lengthened to become the "Highclere 115" partly on account of avoiding the nasty last turn up West Woodhay down.

Included in the news are the standards for the race. This sets a challenge of completing the course in 6hrs 55mins to get a "gold".


Highclere 100 standards

This puts me in a bit of a dilemma. I am looking forward to the day but not sure how competitive I want it to be. The gold standard looks very doable as it requires an AVS of 27kph which I am pretty sure I am up to. But it will be a bit of a downer if I go for it and miss. May be more fun just to amble around enjoying the ride, countryside and company. Think will decide on the day....

First Sunday Club run

Went on first Sunday club run with Newbury RC. Very enjoyable but still getting used to riding etiquette, as not sure when it is OK to push ahead and when to hold back. Still sure will get used to it in time.

TDF Journal Wednesday 24th May Eupen to Huy Wind, Wind, Fing Wind

Distance 136k
Time 6:23
Climb 618m
Weather Windy all the way

Had a pleasant surprise on leaving the hotel. Firstly I found my missing Alien next to my bike. Then just as I was leaving a girl came up to me with my compass saying "I guess this must be yours?". So all present and correct again.

I set off from Eupen heading due north, happy that this was going to be the day when I was due to make a turn south and west, so hopefully towards warmer and drier climes.

All the water I had been drenched with must have got to my brain as I took a number of unplanned detours but I found my way back onto my route without too much difficulty. My navigation was helped by the strong wind that was getting stronger all the time and rather worringly coming from the direction I would be heading in the afternoon. For the time being though I knew if I was being blown over sideways into the hedgerows I was heading in the right direction.

Eventually I came to a long straight road that ran along a hill running north-south. It reminded me of the Hogs Back coming out of Guildford and similar to that road had some great views, which I tired to appreciate when I wasn't in danger of being blown off the hill and into the valley. It was along this road that I had my first encounter with another guy on a racing bike. I didn't know he was there until he whizzed by me, but once he was ahead I gave chase. He was doing a fair lick but eventually I caught up, which then gave the dilemma of whether to overtake him or stay behind, using him as a windbreak. I was still dithering when he solved my dilemma by turning off my road.




Very shortly after this I crossed the border into Holland. I followed a lovely "green" route along a river to the outskirts of Valkenburg, then cycled along the flat straight road into the town itself. It was around lunchtime so I stopped at a pub. Rather bizarrely the only food on offer was cake, so I had a couple of helping of this with beer accompanyment.

http://www.valkenburg.nl/


The official route into Valkenburg:


Some Valkenburg TDF history:



Having reached Valkenburg I was now faced with the first of my "gap Etape"s. These are the gaps that need to be covered when the tour finishes at one town and starts at another. I faced a number of these, the longest being the one from L'Orient in Brittany down to Bordeaux at 565km. The one from the end of stage 2 at Valkenburg to Huy, back in Belgium, for the start of stage 3 was only a paltry 70km.

I did my best to make this a bit longer by heading the wrong way out of Valkenburg. Once I realised my mistake I decided to make the most of it by taking a look at Maastricht, a town (in)famous in the UK for having an EU treaty named after it but about which I knew nothing. It proved a pleasant surprise. First thing of note were the plentiful cycle lanes. The outside of the town was full of nondescript new buildings but at its heart was a lovely old town centre, reserved for pedestrians and bikes only. The only drawback was that it was cobbled which, despite my bike being a Roubaix, meant a rather shaky ride. However I was glad I passed by.

Maastricht:


Maastricht info:
http://www.vvvmaastricht.nl/index2.php3


Heading out of Maastricht I crossed back into Belgium and once again had to contend with its road system. I had planned on using a "yellow" road but on seeing it was the same as the dreaded N676 decided against and risked a red alternative. This was better in that it had a cycle lane but was made difficult by running through wide open, flat farmland where the wind that was now quite vicious whipped dust and dirt straight into my face. Just to wind me up the cycle lane also had some huge holes dug into it. These seemed to be some sort of roadwork but there was no sign of any roadworkmen and whenever I came across one I had to dismount and push my bike round it.

All in all this made for hard going, the harder because I knew this wasn't really a part of the tour proper.


My first view of Huy (except that when I was there the skies were grey...)



Eventually I reached the outskirts of Huy. I had not booked a hotel in advance because I thought that if Huy was a ville d'etape it was bound to have plenty of hotels. However as I rolled down the banks of the River Meuse on which the town sits my heart started to sink a little, especially as the skies opened to give me my first soaking of the day just 5km from the end of my days riding. I took shelter under a bridge, restarting once the rain had changed to drizzle. I passed one hotel but that seemed to be in the middle of an industrial area so gave it a miss and headed for town centre.






There I could see no sign of hotels. Bemused I asked a local if there were any hotels nearby and found there was just one (Hotel du Fort), which eventually I tracked down. I got a friendly welcome and after depositing my bike in the garage and drying myself off headed into Huy for a meal.

While waliking into town I saw a sign saying that Huy would be welcoming the Tour de France but was also on the route of the Giro (Tour of Italy). Strangely this turned out to be true. And I thought I had got lost from time to time!

Huy seemed to be as lacking in restaurants as hotels. I ended up in an Irish pub, of which there seems to be at least one in every town in the world. (Strange because when I lived in France back in the early 1990s this was very much not the case, in fact one of the highlights of a trip back to the UK was a pint of Guiness.)

Maybe the hotels/restaurants had all been scared off by the nuclear power plant, that was, literally, a couple of miles down the river from Huy town centre.

Belgiums nuclear power stations. The Tirhange station is on the river Meuse right next to Huy:



Huy Links:

http://www.huy.be/

http://www.eupedia.com/belgium/huy.shtml